I got a job! Well, I got a contract position, initially for three months but very likely to be extended. I am now the Communications Assistant at Ealing and West London College!! It's more of a Marketing assistant role because it's in the Marketing department. I am sooo excited!!! The job sounds fantastic and the team seems really creative and forward thinking so I am pumped!!! And the campus is huge. I've always thought it would be super fun to do marketing for a college or university so yay! I'll be doing everything from copywriting to press releases to updating the website to helping with the refresh of the college magazine to helping plan campaigns and stunts around campus geared at both the internal and external markets. YAY! Again: YAY! It's a new role so they're starting it off as a temporary contract for three months and then they will review in a month or two to see if it should be extended or maybe become permanent. I'm just happy to have some financial security for the next three months and have a job that actually excites me. Yay!
On a less happy note, today someone's leg somehow got underneath one of the trains at Oxford Circus and they shut the station down. There was no service on the Central Line for the majority of the afternoon. Apparently they had to saw the person's leg off to get them out from under the train. I don't really know what happened but I cannot imagine. I do not know if they were trying to kill themself or if they tripped and fell or got shoved. I shudder to think of what it would be like to get stuck under one of the massive tubes.
On the brighter side, I am getting to know my Greek roommate and he's really nice. He's a film maker, just finished school this spring and already won an award at the New York Film Festival! It's so strange listening to him and my aunt and uncle talk. I think it's so amazing that they actually work in this industry!!! Craziness.
Anyhoo, looking forward to starting work next Wednesday. Planning to make the most of my last few days without work and go see the new Pop Art exhibit at the Tate Modern. I will take pics if I'm allowed and post them up as soon as I can!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Fun British Facts
I've learned more about the Brits over the past few weeks, thought I'd share:
-There is no Thanksgiving in Britain. Makes sense I guess but it got me thinking: why is there Thanksgiving in Canada? Is it also to pay tribute to all that the Europeans stole from the natives? I can't remember. I was asked a lot and I gave very vague, wobbly answers but really I have no clue. Anyone?
-Women are expected to wear suits to interviews. Isn't that odd?? I met with a recruitment agent last week that asked if I owned a suit. I admitted no, cause I'm not a 45 year old business executive. But apparently, in Britain, every professional female should own a suit and is expected to wear it to interviews. Who knew?! I've worn fabulous dresses to the two interviews I've been to here so far and it seemed fine. I bought a suit last week anyways. From H&M. It was the least fun shopping trip I'd had in a while.
-There don't appear to be any Avenues in London. Only Streets and Roads and Lanes. I noticed this a while back. I think there might be a couple Broadways and there are tons of Squares, but no Avenues.
-'Slag' is a British term used to refer to what Canadians call 'sluts'. The worst of the 'slags' are referred to as 'slaggy slags'. Isn't that such a gross word?! I hated it on sound, it immediately filled me with distaste. It will not become a part of my vocabulary. **
-Brits really do all cigarettes 'fags'. I knew this already, as I'm sure you did too, but it's still quite jarring to hear that word used in everyday speech. Especially because 'fag' is not a word in my vocabulary. Last night my aunt was talking and was like 'I was having a fag in the garden' and thought 'what the?!' but then remembered.
-The little West Indian shop down the road from me is owned by an African. I thought this was hilarious. Good for him! It's a good shop too, they even sell roti shells.
-Brits automatically put milk in their tea. Even in restaurants, they just put milk in your tea automatically without asking. This has resulted in me having to send tea back several times and in dozens of cups of tea having to be poured out and remade. It's not just that I don't like milk, it just doesn't agree with me so if I'm going to have some, it'll be in cheese or ice cream, something worth it.
-I've found that Brits have weird pronunciation. Not just cause of their accents, but they do not say things how they're spelled. I think it's quite ironic since they're supposed to 'speak the most proper English' and supposedly we in North America have butchered the language, but at least we pronounce all syllables. Here, Leicester is pronounced 'Lester', Chiswick is pronounced 'Chisik', everything ending in 'shire' like 'Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, Notthinghamshire, Gloucestershire' atually ends in 'sure' so it's pronounced 'Oxfordsure, Derbysure, Nottinghamsure, Gloucestersure'.
-They have La Senza here. I actually thought that was really strange but apparently it's all over Europe.
-You can buy 2 bottles of Smirnoff vodka for £5.50...I didn't, but I'm just saying it's possible. If you're an alcoholic then London is the place for you!
-'Long' is used by Brits to refer to what we call 'tight' girls at home. You know what I mean. I don't really get why they call it being 'long' here. A opposed to 'short'??? At least when we say 'tight' at home, it makes sense as opposed to 'loose'. **
** I would like to take a moment to note that neither of these terms were used in reference to me...
-There is no Thanksgiving in Britain. Makes sense I guess but it got me thinking: why is there Thanksgiving in Canada? Is it also to pay tribute to all that the Europeans stole from the natives? I can't remember. I was asked a lot and I gave very vague, wobbly answers but really I have no clue. Anyone?
-Women are expected to wear suits to interviews. Isn't that odd?? I met with a recruitment agent last week that asked if I owned a suit. I admitted no, cause I'm not a 45 year old business executive. But apparently, in Britain, every professional female should own a suit and is expected to wear it to interviews. Who knew?! I've worn fabulous dresses to the two interviews I've been to here so far and it seemed fine. I bought a suit last week anyways. From H&M. It was the least fun shopping trip I'd had in a while.
-There don't appear to be any Avenues in London. Only Streets and Roads and Lanes. I noticed this a while back. I think there might be a couple Broadways and there are tons of Squares, but no Avenues.
-'Slag' is a British term used to refer to what Canadians call 'sluts'. The worst of the 'slags' are referred to as 'slaggy slags'. Isn't that such a gross word?! I hated it on sound, it immediately filled me with distaste. It will not become a part of my vocabulary. **
-Brits really do all cigarettes 'fags'. I knew this already, as I'm sure you did too, but it's still quite jarring to hear that word used in everyday speech. Especially because 'fag' is not a word in my vocabulary. Last night my aunt was talking and was like 'I was having a fag in the garden' and thought 'what the?!' but then remembered.
-The little West Indian shop down the road from me is owned by an African. I thought this was hilarious. Good for him! It's a good shop too, they even sell roti shells.
-Brits automatically put milk in their tea. Even in restaurants, they just put milk in your tea automatically without asking. This has resulted in me having to send tea back several times and in dozens of cups of tea having to be poured out and remade. It's not just that I don't like milk, it just doesn't agree with me so if I'm going to have some, it'll be in cheese or ice cream, something worth it.
-I've found that Brits have weird pronunciation. Not just cause of their accents, but they do not say things how they're spelled. I think it's quite ironic since they're supposed to 'speak the most proper English' and supposedly we in North America have butchered the language, but at least we pronounce all syllables. Here, Leicester is pronounced 'Lester', Chiswick is pronounced 'Chisik', everything ending in 'shire' like 'Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, Notthinghamshire, Gloucestershire' atually ends in 'sure' so it's pronounced 'Oxfordsure, Derbysure, Nottinghamsure, Gloucestersure'.
-They have La Senza here. I actually thought that was really strange but apparently it's all over Europe.
-You can buy 2 bottles of Smirnoff vodka for £5.50...I didn't, but I'm just saying it's possible. If you're an alcoholic then London is the place for you!
-'Long' is used by Brits to refer to what we call 'tight' girls at home. You know what I mean. I don't really get why they call it being 'long' here. A opposed to 'short'??? At least when we say 'tight' at home, it makes sense as opposed to 'loose'. **
** I would like to take a moment to note that neither of these terms were used in reference to me...
Monday, October 19, 2009
I'm Back Baby!
So sorry about last week to any loyal readers that stuck with me through my bought of self-pity and lack of posts. To those who've left, I understand. I'm back now though! Chalk full of optimism and happy as a Santa Claus on crack at Disneyland getting laid (Friends reference). Had a nice, relaxing weekend and hit the ground running this morning. I've already set up two appointments with recruitment agencies for this week and actually heard back from an online application I just sent in this morning. Woot woot! Things are looking positive. I have resigned myself to temping over here and I am happy with that. There are much worse things I could be doing than temping in London for two years ;)
I actually had a moderately productive Sunday too, in that I actually got out of bed before 2 pm and managed to finally get to the store and pick up my microwave! I even went out again and bought a little table to put it on. Now I can cook as much as I like and then reheat my left over for days!! My aunt and uncle don't really do leftovers so they didn't use their old microwave and right now they don't have one at all. I've been dying for one for weeks now cause there are some things that you just can't reheat in the oven (like rice and stir fry) and there are times when I'm hungry now damnit! I want to pop my food in the mike and eat in the next 2-3 minutes. So now that I can, I've got cooking fever! On my list for the next week or two are: fried breadfruit with smoked fish (this is a Caribbean dish for any of you who might be disgusted or confused), roti and curry chick peas with chicken, a pilaf rice with smoked turkey and mushrooms and a coconut salmon. Mmmm mmm!! I may soon not be able to fit into any of my adorable, recently purchased dresses (I shop when I'm depressed) but I'll be well fed! I've just made myself quite hungry, I think I'm gonna go start my search for breadfruit. What the hell does a breadfruit actually look like, I've only seen it cooked?? Found a pic!
Also, one of my cousin's friends helped me stage the pic below at my cousin's party to prove that I was in the same room and venue as Mr. Rickman. I look hideous, please excuse that, but it is still proof that we were both there. He's in the background, leaning in to kiss my aunt (so jealous).
You can't fake this stuff people! Well, you can actually, but I didn't!
I actually had a moderately productive Sunday too, in that I actually got out of bed before 2 pm and managed to finally get to the store and pick up my microwave! I even went out again and bought a little table to put it on. Now I can cook as much as I like and then reheat my left over for days!! My aunt and uncle don't really do leftovers so they didn't use their old microwave and right now they don't have one at all. I've been dying for one for weeks now cause there are some things that you just can't reheat in the oven (like rice and stir fry) and there are times when I'm hungry now damnit! I want to pop my food in the mike and eat in the next 2-3 minutes. So now that I can, I've got cooking fever! On my list for the next week or two are: fried breadfruit with smoked fish (this is a Caribbean dish for any of you who might be disgusted or confused), roti and curry chick peas with chicken, a pilaf rice with smoked turkey and mushrooms and a coconut salmon. Mmmm mmm!! I may soon not be able to fit into any of my adorable, recently purchased dresses (I shop when I'm depressed) but I'll be well fed! I've just made myself quite hungry, I think I'm gonna go start my search for breadfruit. What the hell does a breadfruit actually look like, I've only seen it cooked?? Found a pic!
Also, one of my cousin's friends helped me stage the pic below at my cousin's party to prove that I was in the same room and venue as Mr. Rickman. I look hideous, please excuse that, but it is still proof that we were both there. He's in the background, leaning in to kiss my aunt (so jealous).
You can't fake this stuff people! Well, you can actually, but I didn't!
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